FBI/NOMINATIONS/SUPREME COURT/TRUMP PEOPLE/WOMEN: “The White House could order the FBI to investigate the sexual assault allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, several former senior White House and Justice Department officials from both parties said Wednesday [9-19-18], contradicting President Donald Trump’s claims that doing so would exceed the FBI’s mandate. Trump continued to insist on Wednesday that there is no potential role for the FBI in exploring claims by California psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford that Kavanaugh covered her mouth while trying to strip her bathing suit off during a party when both were in high school in the 1980s…Trump’s stance echoed that of Senate Republican leaders, who suggested there is no role for the FBI in investigating a decades-old incident that would not be a federal crime…Longtime Senate Judiciary Committee member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) agreed. ‘The FBI does not do investigations like this. The responsibility falls to us,’ Hatch said. But several officials who have had direct roles in the nomination and background check process said it’s common, as part of the FBI’s vetting of presidential nominees for judicial posts and executive branch jobs, to investigate matters that do not qualify as federal crimes. Some noted that the Trump White House itself enlisted the FBI last winter to explore spousal abuse claims against former White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter.”
–Josh Gerstein, “Trump claim that FBI can’t probe Kavanaugh allegations is wrong, ex-officials say,” Politico, September 19, 2018 6:59 pm